Three people + three internships: your inside look to an internship at L’Oréal
Are you curious to know what interning at L’Oréal looks like? We’ve got three people to give you the inside scoop to life as a L’Oréal intern! From a rigorous recruitment process to sharing their most favorite thing about L’Oréal’s culture, meet Edgar, a recent intern; Linda, an experienced professional who started as an intern and Julie, an out-going intern; who will each give you a sneak peek into their internship experiences!
Tell us about yourself 🙂
Edgar: I grew up in France with an English father and Taiwanese mother. As a general character trait I’d say I’m very curious. I started my studies by completing a two-year electrical engineering and computer science diploma followed by a 5-year course in design at Strate School of design. I tried automotive design in 3rd year and switched to interaction design from 4th year.
Linda: I studied a variety of subjects including Economics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics and started my career with an apprenticeship at a Pharmaceutical company where I worked for one year. Soon, I discovered my interest lied elsewhere and made the choice to pursue Masters in Marketing at ESSEC Business School after which I started my internship at L’Oréal. After years of working in different departments, brands and countries within L’Oréal, I am presently based in the Talent Acquisition Team at The Global Headquarters in France.
Julie: I am currently studying Hospitality in Switzerland and doing an internship at L’Oréal as a part of my curriculum. After this, I will be going back to complete the last year of my studies!
What was your recruitment process like? 📃
Edgar: I found an internship offer on a job site and quickly applied. It was very efficient and I got the offer after two interviews. I think I got along immediately with my trainee supervisor! I was then guided by two HR’s and an onboarding platform to provide the required documents in step-by-step process.
Linda: I was always in love with beauty and cosmetics. It was a time when Maybelline launched a foundation range for darker skin shades and I was really excited to try them. However, after buying three different shades, I found that the color on the package was different from the one inside and I could not find the right shade. I wrote a letter explaining this situation to L’Oréal and told them that I could work on this for them. After a couple of days, I received an offer from them and had an interview with a recruiter after which I started working at the Luxury Division brand of L’Oréal, Lancôme International.
Julie: I was searching for the best companies in HR and L’Oréal was one of them. To get more info, I searched on LinkedIn for L’Oréal employees to get better insights and was in contact with a person who recommended a position to me, based on my background. I did two applications… I could not make through the first one but I got an interview call for the second one. After two super positive and comfortable interviews, I was recruited into my present role.
What does a ‘day-at-work’ look like? 💻
Edgar: Since I work on User eXperience of Research and Innovation IT tools, I think a lot about our users who are chemists, experts, engineers, data managers. I might be conducting user tests on a currently developed platform or preparing workshops for end-users to imagine new functionalities and modules to existing ones. I might be communicating with software development engineers and explaining why users might perceive things one way or the other or thinking more globally about how to enlarge user centricity practices at IT. Overall, my day is a mix of several different activities and full of new things to learn!
Linda: Every day is a different one and that is exactly why I love working at L’Oréal! Every day is a new adventure where I get to work on a new topic and with new people. Each day I meet amazing people, amazing teams so I have to be good, I have to become better everyday. It’s like playing tennis with Raphael Nadal: you have to give 200 percent everyday.
Julie: I start my day by checking emails, reaching out to recruiters and checking the status of different countries. My work involves training the recruiters on our data. On an average, I have two big and two small projects per week.
What did the first few days of your internship look like? 🤝
Edgar: There was a partial lockdown when I joined, thus I had to start working from home. But my trainee supervisor called me every morning and afternoon during that first week, showed and explained a lot of things. I also initially met the team this way. We’d have video calls where she’d ask my opinion on some subjects and I felt great to be really included as a contributor.
Linda: The first 3 months of my internship were really difficult. But I really wanted t stay. I was in love with this company, with its entrepreneurial spirit. So I decided to make a big shift. I decided to give more. While initially, I would wait for my boss to give me instructions, later I began to make decisions myself and take ownership.
Julie: In the first days, I was introduced to my manager and the team through a lot of lunches and coffees!
What’s the one thing you LOVE about L’Oréal? ❤
Edgar: I think there’s a very healthy and positive environment. I really feel L’Oréal is in touch with today’s social reality. The people in my team are all very welcoming and nice.
Linda: I absolutely love the Entrepreneurial spirit that L’Oréal encourages! If you are interested in a topic, they let you execute it. You are your own boss and if you manage to sell your idea, you can do it! I always wanted to create my own company, but the amount of autonomy I get here, makes me feel like its my own!
Julie: I think I love the the autonomy and the team which is a big positive thing to have at work.
What are some tips you would like to share with potential applicants? 💡
Edgar: Apply as soon as possible since there will always be many other applicants! Knowing about L’Oréal Groupe is essential to show interest, also research about the company’s future goals and ambitions. When comes the time of interviews, show passion in what you do, give examples of experiences or situations. Be positive, mature and show you’re a good team player ! Always take notes of important information that are given to you, and end the interview in a positive and enthusiastic way.
Linda: I strongly believe that passion pays off. When you work hard and learn everyday, you can be successful. That’s why I think, my internship got converted into a job contract. Passion gives you the positive energy to be ambitious for your project and for your team, to be resilient and to learn everyday.
Julie: Since L’Oréal has a rule that only lets you apply to 3 jobs within a 30-rolling day period, I would really recommend being as clear as possible with the recruiter on what you would like to do. I feel like I was put in the perfect position, thanks to the recruiter who placed me here after I described exactly what I was looking for. Also, I was rejected before so I would definitely encourage candidates to apply even after a rejection, until they find the right fit for them. Everything really happens for a reason, when I think about the previous position I had applied to I’m really happy I ended up in this one instead.
Want to be our next intern and share your story with the world? Come and join us!
